3 Bahraini opposition leaders injured

Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have attacked anti-government protesters in the capital, Manama, injuring several demonstrators, including three senior opposition leaders.
Witnesses say regime forces fired tear gas, sound bombs, rubber bullets and birdshot to break up a peaceful demonstration held in the capital’s Bilad al-Qadeem area on Friday.
Sheikh Ali Salman, the Secretary General of Bahrain's main opposition bloc al-Wefaq, Hassan al-Marzooq and Jawad Fairouz, both al-Wefaq figures, were injured during the crackdown.
Salman is reported to be shot in the shoulder and back while Marzooq is shot and wounded in the chest. There was no word on how Fairouz was injured.
"Security forces besieged the area, chased citizens and repressed them brutally, beating them up and firing live rounds at them,"al-Wefaq said in a statement, adding that the rally was organized by the opposition bloc.
Bahrainis have been staging demonstrations since mid-February 2011, demanding political reform and a constitutional monarchy, a demand that later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al Khalifa family following its brutal crackdown on popular protests.
Scores of people have also been killed and many others have been injured in the Saudi-backed crackdown on peaceful protesters in Bahrain.
HM/MA